Lee’s own text message emergency alert system is in the final stage of development.

“The plan is currently in effect, but planning for the future is still being done,” Coordinator of Assessment Julie Tilley said.

Towards the end of the summer some of Lee’s students may have received a text message from “research@leeuniversity.com” asking to confirm their identity and whether they were a student at Lee.

“As you may recall, last year we gathered cell phone information from students,” said Walt Mauldin, vice president of student life. “We were looking at going with an outside company but found out that the new Datatel System also provides means of sending out text messages to cell phones.”

Datatel, also referred to as Colleague, is the new $2 million computer infrastructure that has been installed piece by piece on campus over the last two years. The computer system is also a part of Press Toward the Mark campaign.

The campaign started publicly during Celebration 2006 with a goal of raising $25 million, in order to building a new Health Clinic, Science Building, School of Religion building and acquire new property.

“A station was set up in Step 2 of registration to make sure we get everyone’s cell phone,” Mauldin said. “The only reason we use this is for the purpose of contacting students in case of an emergency.”

After threats of a tornado last spring and the tragedy at Virginia Tech the year before, Lee University made strides to fine tune their current emergency alert and warning policies.

“During spring semester, we had a tornado warning,” Maudlin said. “E-mails were sent out that we were having to delay classes for one hour. If this ever happens again, we will be able to contact our students to let them know what is happening on campus.”

Though the emergency alert system is able to generate text messages when needed, the staff is still working on how to complete the annual verification process.
“Forms will be available in the Records Office to make a change [to cell phone numbers/providers],” Tilley said.